pretend

“Rich people can get a private beach and others can’t…I don’t pretend to be holier than anybody, I just do have these feelings.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

"You cannot just pretend the technical concerns that are true are the same thing as the fearmongering," he said, adding that he was not arguing American companies should control everything.

From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026

“We cannot pretend to be something that we are not. We have to develop our own language, our own way of filming, our way of telling our stories.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

This is not a 30-minute dinner, and there is no reason to pretend otherwise.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

“She likes to pretend there’s nothing special about her, but I know the truth.”

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

In one widely shared video, Maleeha Akhter, 21, an activist with a left-wing student group, pretends to rock a baby.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

"He is not happy, he pretends he is happy," said Tamim.

From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026

Sean O'Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the country's biggest unions, verbally attacked Mullin at a 2023 hearing, calling him a "greedy CEO who pretends like he's self-made".

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2026

He is not the muscular president he pretends to be on television.

From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2026

They have green tea ice cream for dessert, which everyone pretends to like, and then they pile back into their cars.

From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti

He pretended the money was for "football equipment, council liabilities, Companies House fees, charity registration costs and business penalties".

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Rand pretended to be me and I pretended to be Rand,” he says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Then she grabbed her Bible, pretended to flip through it and said, “Let me just check. Yes!”

From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2026

It’s been widely reported that in the ’80s and ’90s, Trump sometimes pretended to be his own publicist, John Barron, when talking to reporters.

From Slate ● Jun. 11, 2026

Then he went to lie down and as Aaron watched, pretended to fall asleep.

From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste

The players are really invested in pretending that that is not the case.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

The military has also historically understood something Hegseth apparently does not: Morale does not come from pretending everything is fine.

From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2026

Though the Americans were pretending to be “good tourists,” in the phrase favored by the Soviet authorities, their purposes were deeper and, from the Kremlin’s point of view, not good at all.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

To put it another way, Flowers can't imagine pretending to be the 20-year-old who wrote Mr Brightside in his friend's bedroom for the rest of his life.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

Bat even tried pretending to be sick so that he could stay home instead of going to school.

From "A Boy Called Bat" by Elana K. Arnold